Ponca City, We Love You writes "Two years ago computer security expert Bill Anderson read about scientific research on how the human eye moves as it reads and processes text and images. 'This obscure characteristic... suddenly struck me as (a solution to) a security problem,' says Anderson. With the help of a couple of software developers, Anderson developed a software program called Chameleon that tracks a viewer's gaze patterns and only allows an authorized user to read text on the screen, while everyone else sees gibberish. Chameleon uses gaze-tracking software and camera equipment to track an authorized reader's eyes to show only that one person the correct text. After a 15-second calibration period in which the software learns the viewer's gaze patterns, anyone looking over that user's shoulder sees dummy text that randomly and constantly changes. To tap the broader consumer market, Anderson built a more consumer-friendly version called PrivateEye, which can work with a simple Webcam to blur a user's monitor when he or she turns away. It also detects other faces in the background, and a small video screen pops up to alert the user that someone is looking at the screen. 'There have been inventions in the space of gaze-tracking. There have been inventions in the space of security,' says Anderson. 'But nobody has put the two ideas together, as far as we know.'"
I thought we already had this technology, and it was called "flat screen" technology. I swear I'm not a crotchety old man, but I can't stand flat screen monitors/TV's/laptops. All of them have this same effect, when compared to the bright, clear, viewable-from-any-direction CRT's. I don't care much for saving a few inches in depth, so I try to use CRT's whenever I can, because unless you're sitting directly in front and center of a flat screen anything, it's very difficult to read.
Does this still bother you, even with today's LCDs? I'm currently sitting at the side of my desk, typing this on a laptop, and I can read the text just fine on either of the two Dell 1905FP LCDs at the center of my desk, with one about 40cm away at a 45deg angle and the other about 80cm away at a 70deg angle. Both are displaying 12pt black-on-white antialiased text (PDFs) at 90dpi.
Try using most types of laptop display. They have some very narrow viewing angles if you want things to look okay.
Side to side isn't nearly as bad as up and down. The laptop I'm using (HP Pavilion dv9572) has a decent side to side angle, but if I reposition myself in the chair (moving it up/down or slumping/straightening my back) I have to readjust the display to get the proper look.
Maybe that was the case 5 or so years ago, but I can read my LCDs both at work (Dell 19") and at home (Samsung 24") from distance and from quite good angles. I'd suggest getting an eye test, and not just for long or short sightedness. You might have a degenerative condition that can be solved with laser therapy [slashdot.org].
In all seriousness, there is no reason to use a CRT in this day and age. The size, energy efficiency, contrast ratios, etc, of CRT monitors makes for a less than practical display.
It's all about the quality of the monitor. Cheap LCDs are lousy just like cheap CRTs were lousy - they just fail in different ways. Shop around and you can find a flat panel with a good viewing angle as well as decent color reproduction.
So what happens when you are typing and listening to music, you head is swinging back and forth to the beat? Will the gaze thingy be able to follow or will you pass in and out of it's "verified" zone?
Perhaps it would do better to map your face like they do at gambling casinos. Then if it sees anyone other than your face, it takes corrective action.
I know people for whom it would be serious issue if they were literate enough to read anything more complex than a stop sign. Some of them are managers.
That sounds pretty cool, it would be a bit like "reading" the matrix. I guess you would get over the distraction of text you're not looking at turning into garbage and start to tune it out.
Does anyone know of a video of this software in action, I'd love to see what it looks like.
Furthermore, how did you continue to read the title/summary if you did a double-take? Wouldn't that have thrown off your gaze-tracking security software and scrambled the page for you?
by Anonymous Coward
on Tuesday July 07, @05:02PM (#28614827)
Have you actually, say, worked with a privacy screen? The ones which have been foisted upon me suck. That and, oh, yeah, they don't work with laptops. However, an even sweeter rendition would be focus follows gaze, particularly for X11 and the random desktop environments. Then instead of wiggling the mouse every time I switch screens, I could just type where I'm looking. Obviously, it should hold the focus and let me keep typing if I'm still typing when I look away.
Look away where? Off the screen? elsewhere on the screen? What happens when you're reading reference docs and typing code at the same time? It's a neat idea but there are some edge cases that will be really frustrating if you don't handle them properly. I'm frequently looking at other things on my screen and I only rarely want them to have focus.
Actually, if they're working on sensitive material, they should never work on an airplane or in a coffee shop. This has been known for a long time by people who work with sensitive material on paper. You don't get it out in a public area, and you don't talk about it in a public place. Nor do you rely on odd technological measures that might fail.
The other reasons make a good deal more sense, but I don't know that it's worth the price and inconvenience just to read porn in public or do your taxes.
With regard to over-the-shoulder power, I bought by first CHIMP in 98. Can't work without it.
I use a clear piece of plastic, like half of a CD case with the insert removed. Stick it on a shelf near the monitor and with the right angle it is just as good for detecting someone behind your back, but since it is not an obvious mirror, they won't know that you know they are there. I've freaked out a number of people with my 'psychic' ability to detect someone standing at the door to my office while looking the other way and with the music blasting on my headphones.
TFA's description of the technology contains a bit of hand-waving:
Chameleon uses gaze-tracking software and camera equipment to track an authorized reader's eyes
Check, that's doable now.
to show only that one person the correct text.
How? Elfin magic? If a screen region under the "authorized reader's" field of view is displaying the protected content to the authorized reader, it's also displaying exactly the same thing to anyone else who happens to be looking at the same area.
So far as I can tell, this is the part of the proof labeled "Magic happens here". Also known as the part of the technology that needs more investment. So invest now!
It doesn't say specifically, but I'm guessing it makes use of the saccade effect. Your brain literally doesn't see changes in the visual field while your eyes are moving from one spot to another (this motion is called a saccade).
So, basically, the text is only "correct" in the exact spot you're looking at any instant... as soon as your eyes move to the next word, the gibberish that's there before the saccade is changed to the "correct" word for that new spot. And you don't notice.
Anyone that the camera is not tracking would just see random gibberish because the words they are looking at usually haven't been changed to be the "correct" ones for that spot at the instant they are looking at them.
It's a well known process... just never applied to the field of security before. Also, it would take a very high-speed, very high-resolution camera, so I doubt it's applicability to general purpose computers any time soon.
And, of course, if someone watching you has the same high-speed, high-resolution camera that you have, they could just record the whole video stream and perform an analysis on it... so it's not terribly good security either.
Chameleon uses gaze-tracking software and camera equipment to track an authorized reader's eyes... "Check, that's doable now."
Well, sort of. A decent eye tracker (example 1 [smarteye.se], example 2 [tobii.com]) costs $15,000 to $30,000 (please do not request a link to a price quote - the fact that they don't list prices on their pages should be a good clue). And this scrambling system would be worse than useless with a bad eye tracker. (PS, please, please prove me wrong by posting a link to a cheap, robust, accurate eye-trackin
and if I'm looking at boobies, it will show constantly changing, random boobies, so it would difficult for someone approaching the screen to figure out exactly which boobies on the screen I was looking at.
Because the screen shows constantly changing random words, it would be difficult for someone approaching your screen to figure out exactly which point on the screen you were looking at.
Not that difficult, if the shoulder-surfer could watch for more than a few seconds. Especially if part of the screen seemed to show a consistent typeface, flowing sentences, coherent subject matter... i.e., anything not obviously random. Humans are damn good at pattern recognition. Moreso, if the shoulder-surfer has some idea what he's looking for, and the "authorized reader" is unaware he's being monitored. And don't deny that can happen. Anyone capable of concentrating sufficiently to work well is going to lose some environmental awareness, and a sufficiently sneaky voyeur would be able to benefit from that.
Overall, though, it would probably make more sense, and be cheaper, to avoid working on your private material where other people can see your screen
Yup. This smells like a solution looking to shoulder out existing and simpler solutions.
Paradoxically, the "consumer-grade" idea in TFA actually seems more valuable: The display is normal, but when your eyes leave it the whole thing blanks. This helps solve the very-real and not-well-solved problem of leaving terminals unattended.
What about eye strain from the constant blurring/clarification process?
I would think a person using this technology would have to train themselves not to try and focus on an area of the screen that would normally be in focus until the "gaze" sensor figures out what they're trying to look at.
Problem 1: Suppose the gaze-tracking works perfectly under static conditions (during training before the scrambling). Now the scramble kicks in and you've got crap changing all over the screen. You're going to notice that; it's going to be irritating. And when you catch something changing, you're going to look at it. Thus screwing up the algorithm.
Problem 2: The algorithm isn't going to be 100% perfect. And it doesn't have to be camo far off to make melvin unreliable.
This sounds like an awesome development in the area of personal security alright -- especially for looking at porn in your cubicle at work. Your boss or co-worker peers over the wall to try to catch you? No problem, it blurs the screen!
Yet another piece of biometric technology that means if I'm having an off day, get a twitch in my eye etc. I get locked out of my own data. Yippee!!! Yay!
Crap! Soon we'll get T.V.s that know that their being watched, who is watching, and exactly what viewers are looking at....Coming soon to a T.V. near you.
Viewer: (thinking to himself) Oh great, a commercial. Time for a potty break. la, la, la (walks away from T.V.)
T.V.: (in loud voice) Alert, Alert, Alert. Viewer, you have been away from the television for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. You now risk violating your television and cable provider's ULA and risk violating section 5, paragraph 10, subsection a of the 2010 DMCA redux and expansion act.
Viewer: Coming, coming...just have to give a quick shake....O.K., I'm here. Whew, that was close.
T.V.: Alert, Alert, Alert!!
Viewer: Wha!, I'm here. I'm watching again for God's sake.
T.V.: Viewer, you twice failed to take visual notice of the coke can product placement in this episode of Friends. You have now violated your television and cable provider's ULA and thus also violated the aforementioned DCMA act. Please place your hands on your head and wait for the authorities to arrive....a little higher please...there you go.
hax0ring the security cam? so this "three letter" agent was able to infiltrate the CCTV and overlay some porn where his screen would be? I call bullshit.
Flat screens! (Score:2, Funny)
I thought we already had this technology, and it was called "flat screen" technology. I swear I'm not a crotchety old man, but I can't stand flat screen monitors/TV's/laptops. All of them have this same effect, when compared to the bright, clear, viewable-from-any-direction CRT's. I don't care much for saving a few inches in depth, so I try to use CRT's whenever I can, because unless you're sitting directly in front and center of a flat screen anything, it's very difficult to read.
Re:Flat screens! (Score:5, Interesting)
Does this still bother you, even with today's LCDs? I'm currently sitting at the side of my desk, typing this on a laptop, and I can read the text just fine on either of the two Dell 1905FP LCDs at the center of my desk, with one about 40cm away at a 45deg angle and the other about 80cm away at a 70deg angle. Both are displaying 12pt black-on-white antialiased text (PDFs) at 90dpi.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Try using most types of laptop display. They have some very narrow viewing angles if you want things to look okay.
Side to side isn't nearly as bad as up and down. The laptop I'm using (HP Pavilion dv9572) has a decent side to side angle, but if I reposition myself in the chair (moving it up/down or slumping/straightening my back) I have to readjust the display to get the proper look.
And from what I understand, others are desperately seeking quality displays as well [anandtech.com].
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Get an IPS panel LCD instead of a cheap TN panel LCD. Costs more, but looks much better.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe that was the case 5 or so years ago, but I can read my LCDs both at work (Dell 19") and at home (Samsung 24") from distance and from quite good angles. I'd suggest getting an eye test, and not just for long or short sightedness. You might have a degenerative condition that can be solved with laser therapy [slashdot.org].
In all seriousness, there is no reason to use a CRT in this day and age. The size, energy efficiency, contrast ratios, etc, of CRT monitors makes for a less than practical display.
Re:Flat screens! (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Ok? (Score:4, Insightful)
So what happens when you are typing and listening to music, you head is swinging back and forth to the beat? Will the gaze thingy be able to follow or will you pass in and out of it's "verified" zone?
Perhaps it would do better to map your face like they do at gambling casinos. Then if it sees anyone other than your face, it takes corrective action.
Re:Ok? (Score:5, Funny)
Exactly! This is gonna be a big problem for Stevie Wonder - oh wait...
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
It's watching your pupils, not your whole head.
Re: (Score:2)
> This is a non-issue.
I know people for whom it would be serious issue if they were literate enough to read anything more complex than a stop sign. Some of them are managers.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
"Hey, could you help me find the bug in my code?"
"Ummmm....it looks like you just have gibberish."
Just like the Matrix! (Score:2)
That sounds pretty cool, it would be a bit like "reading" the matrix. I guess you would get over the distraction of text you're not looking at turning into garbage and start to tune it out.
Does anyone know of a video of this software in action, I'd love to see what it looks like.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't even see the code anymore, all I see are blondes, brunettes, redheads...
Here's the Video (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
misread headline (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Why would you do a double-take? We ARE geezer-tracking [slashdot.org].
Furthermore, how did you continue to read the title/summary if you did a double-take? Wouldn't that have thrown off your gaze-tracking security software and scrambled the page for you?
or you can just add a privacy screen (Score:2)
I don't know. Just seems simpler to me.
Perhaps this technology might be useful elsewhere.
Re:or you can just add a privacy screen (Score:4, Insightful)
Have you actually, say, worked with a privacy screen? The ones which have been foisted upon me suck. That and, oh, yeah, they don't work with laptops. However, an even sweeter rendition would be focus follows gaze, particularly for X11 and the random desktop environments. Then instead of wiggling the mouse every time I switch screens, I could just type where I'm looking. Obviously, it should hold the focus and let me keep typing if I'm still typing when I look away.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Technology vs People Problems (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, if they're working on sensitive material, they should never work on an airplane or in a coffee shop. This has been known for a long time by people who work with sensitive material on paper. You don't get it out in a public area, and you don't talk about it in a public place. Nor do you rely on odd technological measures that might fail.
The other reasons make a good deal more sense, but I don't know that it's worth the price and inconvenience just to read porn in public or do your taxes.
oh, it's "gaze" tracking (Score:2, Funny)
more inexpensive solution (Score:5, Interesting)
With regard to over-the-shoulder power, I bought by first CHIMP in 98. Can't work without it.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/accessories/2940/ [thinkgeek.com]
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
"Resurrect the Cult of VI"
I don't get it. Is this 'VI' you refer to some minor demon that is 0.009009 as evil as the beast?
Oh, what's that? You're not 'Roman' Catholic?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
With regard to over-the-shoulder power, I bought by first CHIMP in 98. Can't work without it.
I use a clear piece of plastic, like half of a CD case with the insert removed. Stick it on a shelf near the monitor and with the right angle it is just as good for detecting someone behind your back, but since it is not an obvious mirror, they won't know that you know they are there. I've freaked out a number of people with my 'psychic' ability to detect someone standing at the door to my office while looking the other way and with the music blasting on my headphones.
Gaze-Tracking Software (Score:5, Funny)
I smell venture capital PR (Score:5, Insightful)
Chameleon uses gaze-tracking software and camera equipment to track an authorized reader's eyes
Check, that's doable now.
to show only that one person the correct text.
How? Elfin magic? If a screen region under the "authorized reader's" field of view is displaying the protected content to the authorized reader, it's also displaying exactly the same thing to anyone else who happens to be looking at the same area.
So far as I can tell, this is the part of the proof labeled "Magic happens here". Also known as the part of the technology that needs more investment. So invest now!
Where's my flying car, dammit?
Re: (Score:2)
it's also displaying exactly the same thing to anyone else who happens to be looking at the same area.
That's why it pops up a screen alerting you that it sees another pair of eyes behind you as you are reading.
This prevents other people from looking at your monitor while you are away, not while you are there reading it.
And I only read the summary. :)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:I smell venture capital PR (Score:5, Interesting)
So, basically, the text is only "correct" in the exact spot you're looking at any instant... as soon as your eyes move to the next word, the gibberish that's there before the saccade is changed to the "correct" word for that new spot. And you don't notice.
Anyone that the camera is not tracking would just see random gibberish because the words they are looking at usually haven't been changed to be the "correct" ones for that spot at the instant they are looking at them.
It's a well known process... just never applied to the field of security before. Also, it would take a very high-speed, very high-resolution camera, so I doubt it's applicability to general purpose computers any time soon.
And, of course, if someone watching you has the same high-speed, high-resolution camera that you have, they could just record the whole video stream and perform an analysis on it... so it's not terribly good security either.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Well, sort of. A decent eye tracker (example 1 [smarteye.se], example 2 [tobii.com]) costs $15,000 to $30,000 (please do not request a link to a price quote - the fact that they don't list prices on their pages should be a good clue). And this scrambling system would be worse than useless with a bad eye tracker. (PS, please, please prove me wrong by posting a link to a cheap, robust, accurate eye-trackin
Re: (Score:2)
Re:I smell venture capital PR (Score:4, Insightful)
Because the screen shows constantly changing random words, it would be difficult for someone approaching your screen to figure out exactly which point on the screen you were looking at.
Not that difficult, if the shoulder-surfer could watch for more than a few seconds. Especially if part of the screen seemed to show a consistent typeface, flowing sentences, coherent subject matter... i.e., anything not obviously random. Humans are damn good at pattern recognition. Moreso, if the shoulder-surfer has some idea what he's looking for, and the "authorized reader" is unaware he's being monitored. And don't deny that can happen. Anyone capable of concentrating sufficiently to work well is going to lose some environmental awareness, and a sufficiently sneaky voyeur would be able to benefit from that.
Overall, though, it would probably make more sense, and be cheaper, to avoid working on your private material where other people can see your screen
Yup. This smells like a solution looking to shoulder out existing and simpler solutions.
Paradoxically, the "consumer-grade" idea in TFA actually seems more valuable: The display is normal, but when your eyes leave it the whole thing blanks. This helps solve the very-real and not-well-solved problem of leaving terminals unattended.
Parent
demo? (Score:2)
It's an automatic "Boss" key!! (Score:5, Funny)
I could have used this when I was playing Prince of Persia on one of my previous contracts!!!
Password masking (Score:2)
Loony Bin (Score:3, Funny)
How am I supposed to tell the difference between PrivateEye and gremlins?
Eye strain (Score:5, Interesting)
I would think a person using this technology would have to train themselves not to try and focus on an area of the screen that would normally be in focus until the "gaze" sensor figures out what they're trying to look at.
A better use for gaze tech (Score:5, Insightful)
Screw privacy, I want my window manager to focus the window I'm looking at. Now that would be useful.
Sheldon
Clever, but probably impractical (Score:2)
Problem 1: Suppose the gaze-tracking works perfectly under static conditions (during training before the scrambling). Now the scramble kicks in and you've got crap changing all over the screen. You're going to notice that; it's going to be irritating. And when you catch something changing, you're going to look at it. Thus screwing up the algorithm.
Problem 2: The algorithm isn't going to be 100% perfect. And it doesn't have to be camo far off to make melvin unreliable.
Awesome! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
especially for looking at porn in your cubicle at work.
Careful there. What if your boss notices that only the guys in the porn flicks stay in focus, while the chicks are blurred...
More biometric nonsense! (Score:2)
Yet another piece of biometric technology that means if I'm having an off day, get a twitch in my eye etc. I get locked out of my own data. Yippee!!! Yay!
CRAP!! Next DMCA intrusion (Score:5, Funny)
Viewer: (thinking to himself) Oh great, a commercial. Time for a potty break. la, la, la (walks away from T.V.)
T.V.: (in loud voice) Alert, Alert, Alert. Viewer, you have been away from the television for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. You now risk violating your television and cable provider's ULA and risk violating section 5, paragraph 10, subsection a of the 2010 DMCA redux and expansion act.
Viewer: Coming, coming...just have to give a quick shake....O.K., I'm here. Whew, that was close.
T.V.: Alert, Alert, Alert!!
Viewer: Wha!, I'm here. I'm watching again for God's sake.
T.V.: Viewer, you twice failed to take visual notice of the coke can product placement in this episode of Friends. You have now violated your television and cable provider's ULA and thus also violated the aforementioned DCMA act. Please place your hands on your head and wait for the authorities to arrive....a little higher please...there you go.
Uh-oh (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)